Oasis Youth Center

It was a few days before the lease agreement was to be signed. We were praying that God would continue to open doors and that his will be done. Our good friend Keny randomly showed up for a visit and I started telling Keny about the possibility of renting the building and our ideas of a youth center there.  I told him we weren’t quite sure where God was leading with the use of the building but we were positive God wanted us to pursue renting it. Keny then proceeded to tell me about two churches that he works with in Iquitos; he knew they would be excited about partnering with us in this. His idea was that they could send youth from their churches for overnight “short term missions” to put on events and help get the youth of Nauta excited about this. I told him I thought this was a great idea but lets not say anything to anybody until I have the lease agreement signed and in my hands. Well Keny got a little excited about all this and went back to Iquitos and started talking to the pastors. The next day I received this message from him “I Just talked with Pastor Alcides my friend from Manantial de Bendiciones, a church in front of The University UCP next to San Juan Municipality, he likes the idea to go with his youth ministry and do programs in your place. He would like to go every week ... Si, I will try to connect another 3 churches,  we will have many teams to Help you!”

This morning I was drinking my morning coffee and just spending some quiet time with God, when I heard his quiet voice. This fits perfectly with the vision of Junglemaster (to train up leaders and pastors so that they can take the Word deep into the jungle to reach the lost). I had missed this part when I was envisioning a youth center. Let’s stop and think about this for a minute; the church of Iquitos sending young missionaries to Nauta to reach the lost youth of Nauta. The youth of Nauta getting trained to be leaders and missionaries and sending mission teams to the villages on the river to reach the kids there. Then those youth taking what they have learned even deeper in the jungle.

We feel that training current leaders and pastors is extremely important so that correct doctrine can be taught. We are also starting to see that if we want the cultural cycles to stop we need to be focused on empowering and training the youth. Teaching them the Bible and why it’s not ok to continue the cycle of sex, drugs and violence. Teach them that through Christ there are ways to be released of this bondage that a lot of them are trapped in. Show them the peace that they can have through the love and grace only Christ can give us.

Do you want to partner with us too? We are excited and ready to get things moving! You can be a part of this also in so many ways. Have you ever wanted to come to the jungle, are you one that has felt the calling to go on a mission trip and just haven’t been sure where to go? I ask you to seriously pray and ask God if this is where he may want you to go to get involved and see the hand of God at work. We also believe that this area needs to be in constant prayer, we believe we are starting to see huge changes because we know this area is being washed in prayer but we believe with more prayer poured over this area we will see even more changes, so please partner with us in daily prayers that the enemies strong hold on this area will be lifted.  Maybe Gods prompting you to partner financially, if you feel God prompting you to partner financially you can go to our Junglemaster blog page http://www.junglemaster.blogspot.com where there is a paypal link, or you can also find the Junglemaster address at the blog and mail a check. Most importantly though we ask you to pray and really ask God where God wants you to partner with us in doing his work. I also might suggest you ask God for courage to partner with us, God asks us to step out in faith and that takes courage, and the only place to get this courage is through him, by asking him for it.

God Bless you, your missionaries in the jungles of Peru.

Carmen's room

So as you can imagine; we were a tad bit happy that Carmen has her own room now.  After six months of sharing a room; it was time. But, we didn't realize just how happy Carmen was until we found this little video on Joel's phone. Thought I would share....

Our Foundation

Where is our foundation? Is it in our country, our state, our city, our churches or our homes? Or is it in the Lord?

We were having a devotional this morning and we were talking about having a foundation in the Lord. Carmen jokingly said, “ I have a strong foundation, our house.”

As I started to correct her …the next words that came out of my mouth shocked and convicted me.

I started to explain how our foundation should be from God. I told her about how I had moved 32 times before I was 23 years old. How this caused me to not have what the world sees as a secure foundation.  I told her that even though we moved all the time I always had Jesus with me. He was my friend. And, I always seemed to make new friends wherever I went. I explained to her that it didn’t mean it wasn’t hard for me and I didn’t struggle but my foundation rested more on Jesus.

I told her how I had always wanted what my other friends had i.e., getting to stay in one place, grow up with people you had known all your life, etc. And, how finally at 20 God had given me that in Bellingham.  I told her how I was able to finally put down roots. But, that it makes it harder to leave too.

That was when it hit me!! As I was trying to explain to my daughter how not having a strong foundation in the Lord makes us vulnerable to the world; I realized what had been happening to me.

In the last 20 years our family, friends, church, and even Bellingham have become my foundation. I realized that the reason I have been struggling so hard emotionally on the mission field is that my focus has been on the wrong foundation.

Ouch that stings just a little bit!

I was talking to Carmen saying, the reason her and I have been having a hard time with things is because we keeping looking to get to the time we can get back to our “foundation”….not good! This is really hard for me to write and I am ashamed to admit it. 

But, as 1 John 1:9 says: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

God spoke to me so clearly this morning… He is my foundation!!! I love Him with all my heart and need to turn back to Him as my strong foundation and my everything.

No matter where we go in the world, we will always have family and friends. We are not leaving anything behind or losing anything. Instead we are gaining so much and growing the family of God!

Psalms 62:2 “Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.”

Snapshots of Peru

Just a little video I put together with some pictures and short videos of our trip home and activities since arriving home....Enjoy!!

And we're back...

We are back in Nauta and in full swing. It was an uneventful trip home ending in a tearful and joyful reuniting with our fearless leader. It just felt good to be home and in Joel's arms again. After a night in Iquitos we headed home to Nauta.

Carmen was greeted with quite the fanfare by the neighbor kids. I don't know if I could find something more heartwarming than hearing the kids running out yelling " Carmencita!!!" It was so lovely to come home and be greeted by neighbors with hugs and smiles. I love the relationships we have been able to build. After checking out what the neighbors have been up to, I made a quick pasta dinner, and we headed off to church. Some of you may remember me talking early on about visiting Pastor Juan's church in the small dirt house. It never ceases to humble and amaze me the level of love, compassion, and joy they have here amongst such a hard existence. I didn't realize until that moment how ready I was to return here and serve. Plus, I got to see Crystal, our missionary friend. and hug her...that was a big bonus too.

As morning approached I was up earlier than I had been in 12 weeks...5am! But, here in the jungle we go to bed pretty early which causes us to rise pretty early too. ( Wish that would hold true for me in the states) I needed to shop so, after about an hour (making coffee the old fashioned way takes a while) we headed down to the market. Boy, did I miss this.....the noise, the people, the food, and yes, even some of the smells.....all of it. I really do enjoy the market. Loaded down with supplies we headed home.
This is where the day got busy....Joel had done a pretty good job of keeping the house up but, it was definitely a bachelor pad! You could tell that three guys had lived here and been doing construction. I had a full day of trying to just get the kitchen back in working order! Haha  Plus, we were all having to relearn working together...after Joel only needing to worry about himself and us only needing to worry about ourselves.....well....it takes a few days to remember how to coexsist.

And, the house looks amazing!!  Carmen has her own room! Joel, Miguel, and Manuel did an absolutely amazing job on the house. The upstairs is so beautiful, we have tile on the bathroom floor, and Joel varnished the outside of the house too.The wood is so pretty and shiny!
We were able to visit another missionary friend Sarah yesterday.....I sure have missed our friends here. With all the coming and going my foot is aching quite a bit so today I am having to just keep it up and iced a lot. I don't like being down but, I guess at least I have time to sit and catch everyone up on life here in the jungle.

Please be praying for the months ahead as Junglemaster is moving forward and continuing to serve the people here in the jungle. We are needing clear guidance form Our Father and wisdom to hear and discern His guidance.

One last thing.... the first morning after we returned to Nauta; I woke to several (like a lot!) bug bites on my tushie (from sitting on the toilet)...welcome home, I guess?! ;P